A decade of tinkering with education has failed to improve GCSE marks of working-class kids, says shock study

A DECADE of tinkering with education has failed to improve the GCSE marks of working-class kids, says a shock study.

Those in long-term poverty score 1.6 grades lower than their richer classmates on average.

That is the same as in 2011 — before Michael Gove’s academy and free-school revolution.

They were meant to turbocharge social mobility in classrooms.

The gap was bigger for A-levels, with poorer kids 3.1 grades behind, compared with 2.9 in 2019.

And worryingly, more children are now falling into long-term poverty.

Paul Whiteman, of union NAHT, said children were the victims of over a decade of underfunding.

Emily Hunt, who helped pen the Education Policy Institute report, urged the Government to do more.

The Department for Education said £2.6billion in pupil premiums will help the disadvantaged.